Amnesty International has decried a mass death sentence handed out to 152 Bangladeshi soldiers over a 2009 mutiny in which scores of top officers were massacred.

A Bangladeshi judge convicted and sentenced the soldiers over the mutiny in which 74 people, including officers, were hacked to death, tortured or burnt alive before their bodies were dumped in sewers and shallow graves.

At least another 350 of the 823 soldiers charged over the mutiny were sentenced to jail for their role in the 30-hour uprising that started at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters in Dhaka.

"The atrocities were so heinous that even the dead bodies were not given their rights," judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman told the packed court as he read out the verdicts on Tuesday.

But Amnesty says the verdict is a "perversion of justice" which will only result in 152 more human-rights violations if the sentences are carried out.

"With these sentences, Bangladesh has squandered an opportunity to reinforce trust in the rule of law by ensuring the civilian courts deliver justice. Instead, the sentences seem designed to satisfy a desire for cruel revenge," said Polly Truscott, Amnesty's deputy Asia-Pacific director.

Some 823 shackled soldiers were earlier crammed into the specially built courtroom, sitting silently on long rows of benches to hear the long-awaited verdict.

Families of 10 of the officers slain in the mutiny were also in court.

Prosecution 'largest of its type in world history'

An official probe into the mutiny blamed years of pent-up anger over ignored pleas for pay rises and improved treatment from ordinary troops, who resented their better-paid superiors.

Security was tight at the court, with hundreds of police and elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers deployed outside as a precaution.

"We have deployed around 2,000 police and RAB officers in and around the court compound," said Harunur Rashid, the deputy police commissioner for Dhaka.